Episode 030 - Eric Does the Lightning Round

Eric recently had a few long road trip hours alone with his digital recorder, so decided to give in to all the peer pressure we’ve been getting to finally answer those pesky lightning round questions we ask all our guests on the Modern Bar Cart Podcast.

So, not a typical episode, but if you want to know what Eric would say if the roles were reversed and I’m in the hot seat, this episode will reveal all.

Thanks again for a great 2017, and we’re absolutely psyched to give you more great cocktail knowledge in the year to come.

Cheers,The Modern Bar Cart Team

Featured Cocktail: The Stopping by Woods

This episode is being published on December 21, 2017, which happens to be the winter solstice. And it brings me back to the very first drink I ever invented, which might be a bit strong of a word for this occasion. But nonetheless.

This drink is called the “Stopping by Woods,” after Robert Frost’s famous poem which takes place on the winter solstice: the day when the northern hemisphere receives the shortest duration of daylight during a given year. The poem’s speaker says:

“My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.”

This drink is designed to celebrate both the rich rum distilling tradition in the US, as well as the woodsy atmosphere of the poem.

To make this rosemary-spiked rum old fashioned, soak your sugar cube in the bitters, add a splash of water, and then you muddle the sugar and bitters together in a mixing glass with your fresh rosemary sprig. After that, you add ice, rum, and stir. And once the drink is well chilled and the sugar is dissolved, you strain that into a rocks glass over a single large cube if you’ve got one.

You can optionally add another sprig of rosemary or maybe a lemon twist for garnish, and then you enjoy that bad boy in front of a crackling fire with a book of Robert Frost poems in-hand.

If you decide to make a Stopping by Woods this holiday season, definitely snap a picture and hit us up @modernbarcart on Instagram and Facebook so we can share it with our cocktail community.

Eric Does the Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail

The Last Word

Favorite Spirit

Gin. Some of Eric's favorites are:

Bombay Sapphire (middle-shelf utility gin)

Bluecoat (American-made cocktail workhorse)

The Botanist (Favorite cocktail gin for special drinks)

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

Present: Barack Obama

Past: Marco Polo

Influential Cocktail Books

Advice for New Home Bartenders

If you're really getting into home bartending for the purpose of learning new things and trying to expand your flavor world, you need to embrace flavor experiences that push your comfort zone. If you think something is "icky," it's not the drink's fault. People have probably been enjoying for centuries. So, for the most part, your aversion is on you.

But luckily you can train yourself out of all but the strongest flavor aversions with a little self talk ("I'm an open-minded adult, and trying new things is something that open-minded adults do."), and by finding situations in which you can gradually push your flavor boundaries in a controlled manner.

Remember, part of the thrill of experimenting is that there's a chance you might not like what you're trying. But if there's no risk, there's no reward. By training yourself out of some of your personal, cushy flavor aversions, you can increase the odds that you'll be rewarded when you take the risk of trying something new.